An international online Survey of Circumcision Harm was launched recently through a grassroots collaboration of Canadian and U.S. volunteers. CircumcisionHarm.info will allow men around the world with access to a computer to document the adverse effects of childhood genital cutting on their health and well-being and to upload photos of their harm. Statistical results from the survey will be publicly viewable at no charge, with specialized filtered reports available to anyone for a nominal fee.

According to the Canadian website, the project was launched “because the medical community has never investigated the long-term adverse physical, sexual, emotional or psychological consequences of infant/childhood circumcision on the health of adult men… due, in part, to many men with such harm not being comfortable enough to speak with others about these issues, or not being given a safe venue in which to document these adverse consequences.”

The surveyors expressed hope that documenting such consequences and making the results publicly accessible “will provide a starting point for dialogue about the long-term adverse consequences of male genital cutting… that will be investigated by medical communities and taken seriously by the wider societies where customs of male childhood genital cutting occur.” The survey takes about 20 minutes to complete.